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Craziest Campground Stories: Volume 1

| Updated Apr 17, 2017

Over on our Roadtreking Facebook Group, someone posted a challenge for members to share the craziest things they've seen or experienced in a campground.

Oh boy.

Here are some of the best:

Toni I'll start: We were camped at Yosemite, on the valley floor, near the restrooms. We saw not just one or two, but several people using the porto-potty dump to wash their dishes. I mean, it looks like a giant toilet, set low to the ground. You'd think that'd be a clue. . .

Sarah We were camping in Oregon a couple summers ago (and maybe this isn't that weird if you're from the PNW). I was in the bathroom one morning and saw a woman leave the sink water running while brushing her teeth. As a lifelong Californian who had DROUGHT pounded into my brain as a child, it was literally all I could do not to lean over and turn off her faucet. ??

David  I've seen this too many times: people driving away without unplugging everything.

Toni Yeah, I've seen a few awnings lying on the side of the road. Usually near tunnels or bridges. . .

Nancy We have a checklist on a sticky note on the dash. All this time and I still forget something, so I have a checklist also. I've spilt the dogs water dish, left without unplugging everything several times (when I was a newby), and a few other things. 8 months now, but I'm getting it, but still do the check list. Better to do that than to do something stupid again.

Donna  Near Carlsbad Caverns in 1983 — a group of European young people who stripped all their clothes off after dark! Manager said Europeans did that often.

Susan I'm likely the person *doing* the craziest thing others have seen, but we did once witness a proposal. He was even on one knee. It was so cute!

Tricia We were in Letchworth, NY mid week. Nice and quiet. We saw saw “young” adults feeding a racoon two sites over. We yelled not too. It was like watching a campground soap opera. Later on that night they were all huddled in the car because they couldn't get him to leave. By 6am…they were packed up and gone. Lesson learned.

Toni Ohmigosh, one time we accidentally left a (closed) can of nuts on the camp table. The raccoons got ahold of it in the middle of the night and they were fighting over it UNDER our trailer for maybe 20 minutes! It was totally scary! Vicious little critters when it comes to Planters' Peanuts!

Darlene  Some one driving off with their dog attached to the hitch.

Nancy A toy hauler with two ratty recliners in the back. Guy sitting there watching the sunset saying “the old lady wanted to bring the motorcycles and kayaks, I wanted the recliners. I won.” Huh?

John  Without getting too risque, when camping in Holland, a woman was hanging out her laundry topless. Had to move our little game of badminton so my boys didn't see. Never before, nor since.

Henrietta  Someone else mentioned Letchworth SP in western NY and that reminded me…we were tent camping next to a family in a travel trailer. That campground is known for albino skunks that roam freely. The neighbors thought it great fun to throw hot dogs at the skunks, even when they were wandering in our campsite. They had brought a cooler full of Yoo Hoos (possibly the worst soft drink ever invented) and the mother screamed at the kids not to drink all the $&*%ing Yoo Hoos every time one of the kids approached the cooler. Sure enough at some point somebody drank the last Yoo Hoo, and both parents spent the last morning they were there screaming “Who drank the last $&*%ing Yoo Hoo?” at the kids.

Johnnie We arrived at a campsite, set up the tent, started a fire, made dinner, ate it, and sat around drinking wine.
All the while we were doing this, the brand new pickup and 5th wheel across the way were trying to park. They weren't finished setting up by the time we went to bed.

Pam We witnessed a manager of campground taking photos of children and women in the pool from an upstairs window with foil on the windows! We saw him open the window and put the telephoto lens out the window. At the time we did not know it was the manager's quarters, so we went to the security guard to report. That was a mistake because manager was called and wouldn't let us back into the gate where our rv was. Then thugs showed up on the scene at the gate. They were called by manager to fight us and they also lived there! We were forced to call the police and we asked them to stay around while we packed up. All because we were trying to protect 15 innocent children. Some parks can have bad people living in them. Beware.

Jean Sitting around in the middle of the afternoon while the couple next to us set up a pop-up camper. Then they went inside. Much to our surprise, the pop-up went up on one end and the lady fell out the down side, naked. She was up running and in the trailer door in record time. They were packed up and gone within half an hour. Afternoon delight?? Remember. Jack. Stands.

Sabrina A fridge being taken down from a diesel truck at 2 a.m.

Mik Parked up in a camp ground around 2,000 meters up in the Saas Tal Switzerland. Two hikers threw up a pop up tent in a small depression on site. Now the Swiss like things to be on time, like cuckoo clocks. Weather forecast said heavy rain for around 1am and sure enough a 1am we had heavy rain. No surprise there. Got up at first light for the dogs just in time to see the hikers trying to turn their pop up over to empty out about a foot of water. Pretty sure they won't do that again..

Ellis  People entertaining themselves throwing cups of Coleman fuel directly into a campfire. Alcohol was also involved.

Laurel In Prince Edward Island a fox stealing the baguette from the picnic table! Then friend chasing him to retrieve 1/2 of it, which we ate.

Mary  This might be too risque, but here goes we were camped in Yosemite this was in the days of big canvas tents. A couple was in the tent with a very bright Coleman lantern, and things were ummm getting frisky. Perfect shadow play. An audience congregated outside about 10-15 people. We were backpackers next door in our tiny tent we heard some rowdy comments, we peaked out and oh my. The couple finally realized what was happening and lunged to turn off the lantern. Didn't see them the next day.

Kathy A guy was drinking a beer at his picnic table. He got up to use the outhouse. When he came back, a black bear was at the table lapping up the rest of his brew. We were in the Smokies.

Janet  Backpacking with 2 friends to the headwaters of the Mississippi, in MN. We met these three awful looking guys with guns on their hips and baskets of fish heads. They were fishing for leaches to sell as bait. They were everything you would imagine in a movie. Slow talking covered in mud and filth. We couldn't get away from them fast enough. We get to the headwaters of the Mississippi and for 2 days it poured rain. We were pulling tics off of us and tossing them across the tent and making bets as to which one would get back to us the fastest. We were bored and tent bound. After two days we decided we were done and cross countryed it to the closest dirt road. It was a long walk back to the campground. Along comes a filthy pickup truck and we put out our thumbs. Who picks us up? The three leach hunters. We had to ride back to camp in the back with the leaches and the fish heads.

Bobbi  Class A blows up across from our site and woman comes running out with burns over most of her body. Called 911 and man appears with burns all over him. After a very long night the police interviewed us again in the morning and it was a traveling Meth lab. This was in a very nice State park that we had stayed at numerous time because it was close to the Heart Hospital that my husband had his check up.

Johann On our last trip in a minivan, just before the Roadtrek, we had just pulled into the site. We all walked a load to the tent area and when we turned around for a second trip, a raccoon had jumped into the van and was loping down the road with our hot dog buns!!!!! We weren't even there 2 minutes!!!!!!

Katie While backpacking in Olympic NP we set up camp near a high rocky ridge where there were rocks and boulders strewn about. The tents were beyond the farthest boulders but not by that much. The day of rain got even heavier in the night until we started hearing crazy loud clacks and bangs. We stepped out of our tents to see the boulders at the top of the ridge, loosened by the rain, crashing down the steep hillside sparking against the other rocks as they bounced down. It was beautiful and scary. We were too tired to break camp and move and were somewhat confident that we wouldn't be crushed by flying boulders in the night. Luckily we were right but it was tough to sleep through the clattering rocks.

Michael  Back in the early 70's I was driving around Lake Superior, camping along the way. Spent a few days tent camping in Lake Superior Provincial Park. After hiking most of the day I returned to find a guy was sleeping in my tent naked. He explained he was from England hitchhiking through Canada, and was hot and tired. I told him he could stay the night as long as he put on some underwear. He cooked a great breakfast the next morning. We traveled together for a few days, and then he continued west, and I reentered the US.

Jan  We were in a State Park, a few years ago, in OK. The people camped next to us did not know how to talk without using cuss words. We considered moving but the ranger said sorry all sites are full. It definitely was an entertaining evening. First, the men start cussing and accusing each other of forgetting the grill. So, one of them has the bright idea of using the hitch storage thing. He says “hey, check this out this will work great as he throws it over the fire ring” the other one says “better feed the kids first in case all the paint isn't burnt off”. We were horrified. THEN they dig a huge hole in front of their tent entrance and pour water in it for the kids to play with their toy dump trucks! THEN they take their improvised grill off the fire ring and build a fire Craziest Campground Stories: Volume 1 1? that was so big we became fearful it was going to damage our stuff in our campsite. The more they drank the bigger and higher the flames got. The entire top of the picnic table was covered with beer bottles. We did not get any sleep that night. When they finally went into their tent we decided it was time to leave it was 6 am. Were we quiet when we left …….

Jim The best reason to own a Roadtrek–a man and his wife try to back their HUMONGOUS fifth wheel into a straight-in parking pad in a Florida state park. Five, ten, twelve tries, each with him getting out to see what was going on and then getting in to try it listening to her directions. Thirteen the volume raises. Fourteen we decide to watch the fun from inside the RV. FIVE tries later, number NINETEEN he succeeds in getting it onto the pad. They unhooked the truck, set up and went inside. We never saw them the whole rest of the week.

 

Mike Wendland

Published on 2017-04-17

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

2 Responses to “Craziest Campground Stories: Volume 1”

April 24, 2017at10:05 am, nixnoutz said:

Backing a trailer as a newbie is like buying a new Harley to be a biker. (ex-boss).
And I can make fun because I drove professionally and rode motorcycle many years.

April 18, 2017at10:08 am, Fred said:

I took a little tour through Rhode Island and stopped at a Cracker Barrell. After making sure I could park in their parking lot for thenight, I went in and had a nice meal. The next morning, getting up early I went across the street to a McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich and a 1$ coffee and went on my way. Who needs an expensive camp ground you have to share with drunks at outrages prices. The people at the Cracker Barrell could not be nicer. The food in good.

Heapie

Comments are closed.

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